Tag Archives: Vancouver

Food, Gardening

Wildflower Cidery: A Unique Model For A Small Island

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In this morning’s interview we hear from Sara Stewart of Wildflower Produce and Cidery, near the southern tip of Cortes Island.

Sara Stewart: “I’m not a religious person, but when you depend on the natural world you become deeply ingrained in it. I used to think I was building connections with the natural world when I lit a fire on Imbolc (the Ancient Celtic beginning of Spring) and celebrated Soma. I now find that rituals or ceremonies can disconnect you from nature. So I try to cultivate the spirituality of a squirrel. I don’t see wildlife celebrating Imbolc—you just notice what’s happening in your body and respond accordingly.” 

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History

How a Comox Valley fossil discovery forever changed paleontology in BC

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By David Flawse, The Discourse, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

In late autumn 1988, Richard Hebda — then head of botany at the Royal BC Museum — stepped into the living room of a man named Mike Trask following a report of an interesting fossil find on the Puntledge River.

According to Hebda, when he shook hands with the amateur fossil hunter, he was not expecting much. Before this, the paleobotanist had a call about dinosaur ribs in a dry creek bed near Chemainus that turned out to be dirtbike tracks.

But this stop at the Courtenay resident’s home would be different.

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Community

‘I thought the DTES was broken. I was wrong.’

By Aryan Chambyal, Megaphone Magazine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

“Gastown has beautiful Victorian buildings with chic eateries and souvenir stores. Don’t wander into the Downtown Eastside though. It’s dangerous and full of druggies.”

I came across this Reddit comment while looking for sightseeing spots in Vancouver. It was my introduction to the Downtown Eastside (DTES).

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Cost of Climate Change, Energy

Call for Wind & Solar in Canadian Cities as Average Global Temperatures Rise

There have been thousands of scientific studies warning about global warming, but one of the most chilling is a new report advocating the adoption of a combined rooftop solar and wind turbine energy in Canadian cities. Professors You Wu and Lexuan Zhong from the University of Alberta aren’t warning anyone about climate change. They base their projections on the assumption global temperatures could rise to 2.°C above pre-industrial levels in as little as fifteen years and to 3.5°C sometime between 2070 and 2090.

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Communications

From Lanzhou to BC: Bots Overwhelming Cortes Currents

Editor’s note updated Feb 13 2026 – China now leads the world in terms of internet users – 1,1 billion, as compared to 806 million users in India and 302 million in the United States. This comes at a time when bots have replaced humans as the #1 source of traffic on the web. In 2025, Cortes Currents received 32,969 visits from Lanzhou, China. The first ‘visitor’ arrived on October 3 and the worst day was December 23 – when 4,105 came. The average bot visit lasts for a fraction of a second, during which they each make numerous requests of the website – sometimes overwhelming the server.

Posted Nov 19, 2025 – There have been numerous reports of cyberattacks, bots, and hackers this month. On November 13, the Wallstreet Journal reported what is reputedly the world’s first cyberespionage operation largely carried out using AI. The makers of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Claude subsequently revealed that they detected this operation in September. The attacks were carried out by Chinese hackers targeting large tech companies, financial institutions, chemical manufacturing companies, and government agencies.

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